Life in the Residence Halls: Andrew Skelly ’17

Andrew SkellyHi everyone!

My name is Andrew (or Skelly as most people call me), and I’m a rising junior. I am going to be the Community Advisor (CA) of Schultz Hall this year, and I could not be more excited! I just wanted to talk to you guys about what it’s like living at Allegheny, and give a little bit of advice I’ve picked up through my time here so far.

Let’s talk about Residence Life first. We divide our residence halls into nine separate areas. As incoming first years, you will be placed in either Baldwin, Brooks, Crawford, Edwards, Schultz, Ravine, or Walker. The Sorting Hat determines which dorm is your best fit, and who you will live with….just kidding, we’re not Hogwarts (not yet at least). Each dorm has a number of Resident Advisors (RAs) who live in the halls and make sure everything is safe and comfortable for the residents (that’s you guys). Each building has one CA (that’s me!), and it’s the CA’s job to oversee the RAs, and make sure the building is in good shape. To make an analogy, if our halls were boats, the CAs would be the captains, the RAs would be the main crew, and you guys would be our wonderful guests. The CAs and RAs work directly with the main Office of Residence Life to make sure your living experience is the best it can be! If you want to get a feel for what the buildings are really like, check out Allegheny’s Residence Life Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/AlleghenyResidence

The main Office of Residence Life is found in Reis Hall as part of the Office of Student Life. Here you will find our professional staff members, and they are absolutely fantastic. They all want to help you out as much as they can. Stop on in sometime and say hi!

Skelly Tip #1: get to know your RA and CA, and go to their events!
Your RAs and CA are there to help you, and they are such a great resource for you. These are some of the nicest people on campus, and they can help you so much, whether it be with school related stuff or really just anything. Really, try to get to know them! Throughout the course of the semester, the RAs/CAs will hold different hall bonding activities. They range from movie nights to snowball fights, and all sorts of other things in between. Make an effort to go to these events! First off, you can get a ton of free stuff, and seriously, who doesn’t like free stuff? I guarantee you, you will never have as much free pizza given to you again, take full advantage of it! It’s also a great way to socialize with your hall, and make friends.

Now, let’s talk dorm living. I’m going to be straightforward with all of you guys: dorm living can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. But that’s not a bad thing. You come to college to educate yourself, and truth be told you are going to learn so many different things outside of the classroom, and one of those things is how to live and function with others in a shared living space. As a first year, you’re practically guaranteed a roommate. A team of professionals work to make nice set-ups of roommates, and they usually do a pretty good job. As you live with someone, you have to really become aware of your habits for the first time, and really work to be conscientious of what you’re doing. You have to be considerate of your shared space, and learn how to properly communicate with your roommate. So while rocking out to heavy metal until four in the morning may be alright at home, that might not be the best idea for your dorm room. Unless your roommate is cool with that, then, well, rock on. And that stretches beyond your room too; you live in a hall with usually around 20 or so other people, and a building of over 100. Dorm living can be, and usually is, a lot of fun. You basically get to live in a giant house with some of your best friends, and there’s usually always something going on. For any hardships you may face living in dorms, the advantages definitely outshine the hardships!

Skelly Tip #2: communicate with your roommate!
Before you actually arrive on campus, reach out to your new roommate a little bit, and begin some communication with them. It’ll make things a lot less awkward come move-in day. And then as the year goes on, keep up that communication! Some of the biggest roommate conflicts arise simply due to a lack of solid communication. You and your roommate need to speak and talk with each other when something is bothering one of you guys. Be comfortable with each other, it only makes things easier that way.

Remember too, your roommate doesn’t have to be your best friend. Just because you guys live together doesn’t mean you have to be like Ted and Marshall (How I Met Your Mother reference for those who don’t understand!). But if it does work out that way, that’s awesome! And I myself have definitely seen it happen. I encourage you to reach out and connect with the people in your hall also, that’s how I met some of my best friends on campus. You can also join different clubs, make study groups in your classes, or even just try to strike up a conversation with someone at Brooks or McKins, there are so many different opportunities to meet people. This leads into what I consider to be my most important piece of advice:

Skelly Tip #3: meet as many new people as you can!
If you were to take just one thing from post, make it this. Get out and meet as many people as you possibly can. You’re going to make lifelong friends here, and meet some of the most interesting people you’ll ever meet. They won’t always come to you though, you have to get out and explore! Especially in your first few weeks here, get out and socialize. There is never a more perfect time to edge out of your comfort zone a little bit. Practically everyone wants to make new friends, and it will make your time here that much more enjoyable. And I get that it can feel kind of awkward going out and meeting a ton of new people like that, but it doesn’t have to be. Remember: it’s only awkward if you make it awkward.

As fun as the dorm life can be, you sometimes will find yourself getting a bit homesick. For many people, this is their first time being on their own away from home. If you find yourself feeling homesick at all, just remember that it happens to a lot of people, it’s not just you. It even happened to me! For my first couple of weeks here, I was decently homesick. But that’s something that will just go away in time. You’ll begin to get involved, make some new friends, and soon this place will turn into home! Before I wrap this up, I just want to give you guys some other little bits of advice that go beyond Residence Life that I wish I had received before coming here:

Skelly Tip #4: watch out for the freshman 15!
I realize that’s a really clique thing to say, but it is oh so real. It’s the little things that get you and add up fast. One thing that definitely gets people is late night eating. So many people go to McKins for those late night study sessions, but just watch your intake with these trips. The cheese sticks they sell can be a blessing for late night studying, but they add up fast. Fight the food by hitting up the Wise Center every once in a while. It’ll help you feel better, and you are paying for it after all!

Skelly Tip #5: take some fun classes!
You may be coming into college with your whole life goals planned out, and know exactly what classes you need to take, but don’t be afraid to branch out and take some different classes. Look at the catalogue and see what really interests you, don’t feel hindered by your major or minor. I ended up minoring in something I had never thought I would have because I took a random class one semester and loved it!

Skelly Tip #6: talk with your professors!
Coming into your classes for the first time, you may feel intimidated by your professors. They are crazy smart professionals, and they can come off as a bit daunting. But just go to their office hours and talk with them for a little bit. That’s a big perk about going to a small school like this, we can make real solid connections with our professors. Trust me, it will definitely help you out. They are there to help you, and they want you to succeed. Talk with them, and they can help you out in so many ways!

Skelly Tip #7: take advantage of all your opportunities, and enjoy every minute here!
Throughout the course of your four years here, you are going to be presented with so so many different opportunities. And really, strive for as many as you can. These opportunities are found in the classroom, in your clubs, or just all around campus. I’m just going into my third year here, and I am still blown away at how much I’ve been able to do and accomplish just because I reached out and tried out for those opportunities. I talk to my friends who go to the other schools, and a lot of them don’t have that same sense of accomplishment, but here at Allegheny it’s kind of a normal thing. And really, enjoy every minute you have here. These four years go incredibly fast, faster than you can imagine. I seriously feel like I was just in your guys’ shoes, but yet here I am going into junior year.

Thanks for keeping up with this post, I really hope you can take some things away from this. Move-in is quickly coming up, we can’t wait to see all of you guys! Enjoy the rest of your summer, relax a little bit more, and get pumped for this upcoming year! Feel free to email me at skellya@allegheny.edu if you have any questions, concerns, comments, or just want to talk Allegheny!